What to do on settlement day?

You’ve been looking for months, attended auction after auction and finally secured a winning bid on your dream property.

Between the celebrations you try to wrap your head around everything you need to organise – insurance, removalists, conveyancing – the list seems endless.

Before you’ve had a chance to catch your breath it’s settlement day.

If you’re feeling less than settled at this point, you’re not alone. Home buyers can be prone to assume the worst until the keys are securely in their hands.

Don’t let settlement day send you into a spin. With a little understanding, and some preparation, you’ll be unpacking boxes and re organising your lounge room in no time.

What is settlement?Settlement is the official process conducted between the legal and financial representatives of both you and the seller.

Settlement day happens on a time and place agreed upon by both parties. Your settlement agent (solicitor or conveyancer) and your lender meet the seller’s representatives. Once all documents are signed by both parties, they are sent to the titles office to register you as the new owner of the property.

What happens on settlement day?Your conveyancer or solicitor will ensure all documentation is organised well before the settlement date. They will also check the paperwork and make sure it’s executed by all parties.

If there is a bank involved your conveyancer will start talking to the bank to figure out if there’s any shortfall that you need to provide at settlement.

How do you prepare for settlement?The hardest part of settlement day can often be packing up and cleaning the home and disconnecting and connecting the utilities.

You will also have the opportunity to do one final inspection of the property before settlement day. One of the Newton Teams sales agents will come along to this inspection with you and can answer any questions you may have. The point of the final inspection is to ensure the house is in the same condition as it was when sold.

You don’t actually need to be present on settlement day if you don’t want to, as your representatives can take care of all documentation and financials. However, you will be needed to oversee the removals process.

A great piece of advice from our team, “Ensure you do everything the converyancer says, and give them all the paper work they need as quick as you can. Then it’s out of your control and the conveyancer will ensure everything is ready for settlement day.”

What can go wrong?Hiccups rarely occur but when they do it is usually resolved on the same day. There have been instances of clerks turning up at settlement missing a document. If those things happen everyone scrambles together to try and solve the problem as soon as possible.

Sometimes settlement is pushed back to allow the offending parties to rectify the problem. However most conveyancers work to settle it on the same day that it has been scheduled because they know that most of the time people need to move into the property.

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